This motorcycle, parked at Okinawa Police Station in Okinawa city, Okinawa, Dec. 8, 2025, was involved in Thursday’s fatal collision in Chatan town. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
The U.S. Army has identified the soldier who died Friday after a motorcycle crash on Okinawa as a Patriot missile system launching operator and maintainer.
Spc. Markeith Driskell, 28, of 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment at Kadena Air Base, died of injuries he received Thursday evening, U.S. Army Japan spokeswoman Maj. LeeAnn Sagucio said by email Monday.
She did not provide further details of his service. Driskell is from Milledgeville, Ga., according to his Facebook profile. He is the fifth U.S. service member reported killed in a motorcycle crash on Okinawa in the past year.
After the crash, Japanese first responders took Driskell to Ryukyu University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead the next morning, Sagucio said. He died of internal bleeding, pelvic fractures and other injuries, an Okinawa Prefectural Police spokesman said Friday.
No other injuries were reported, and the Army on Okinawa is working closely with local authorities on the investigation, Sagucio said.
The crash occurred at a T-junction on Route 58 in the Sunabe district of Chatan town near the air base.
Driskell was northbound on Route 58 on his motorcycle around 9 p.m. Thursday when another vehicle turned right from the opposite lane in front of him, causing him to hit the median and fall, the police spokesman said. He was then struck by a second vehicle that was traveling south.
The driver of that vehicle, a 24-year-old Okinawan, suffered no injuries and was not identified by the spokesman.
The driver of the first vehicle fled without providing aid or reporting the incident, the spokesman said. It was unclear whether that vehicle hit the soldier’s motorcycle, he added.
Police have found that driver and are questioning him, a spokesman told Stars and Stripes at the Okinawa city police station Monday.
Some Japanese government officials speak to the press only on condition of anonymity.
Stars and Stripes reporter Keishi Koja contributed to this report.
AloJapan.com